Current Affairs April 9, 2018

Transcription

1 Current Affairs April 9, 2018 S.No Topic Page Number 1 World News National News 4 3 State News Banking & Economy 7 5 Sports Appointments & Resignations 10 7 Science & Technology 11 1

2 World News India and Equatorial Guinea sign four agreements India and Equatorial Guinea signed four agreements including in the field of health. The agreements were signed following delegation level talks. President Kovind had one on one talks with his Equatorial Guinea counterpart. India will assist Equatorial Guinea in agriculture, mining, health, telecommunications and IT. India and Nepal Agree to Strengthen Bilateral Relations in Key Areas India and Nepal have agreed to further strengthen bilateral relations in key areas of border security, connectivity, trade and agriculture. The two countries agreed to develop inland waterways for overall economic development of the region. Aiming to expand cross-border rail linkages, the two sides have also decided to construct a new electrified rail line, with India s financial support. The rail line will connect the border city of Raxaul in India to Kathmandu in Nepal. Nepal PM conferred with Honorary degree at Dehradun Universit Nepal s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is on a three-day State visit to India, was presented an Honorary degree at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in the capital city of Uttarakhand Dehradun. The Nepal Prime Minister is accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya and an entourage of ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), secretaries and other high-ranking officials of the Nepal Government. Singapore and China signed MoU along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) On April 8, 2018, Singapore and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Beijing to promote greater collaboration between Singapore and Chinese companies in third-party markets along the Belt and Road initiative. Belt and Road initiative is a strategic developmental project proposed by Chinese president Xi Jinping in year The project aims to connect China with Eurasia through land-based Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and ocean going Maritime Silk Road (MSR). As per the terms of the MoU, Singapore s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and NDRC (China s lead agency for BRI) will form a working group to identify sectors and markets of 2

3 mutual interest, and organise business matching activities and forums to facilitate thirdparty market cooperation between Singapore and Chinese companies along the Belt and Road. Commercial and policy banks, insurers and financial institutions will also be roped in to support the financing and project structuring needs of third-party market ventures. 3

4 National News Indian Railways introduces new machines for Mechanised Track Maintenance Indian Railway has inducted three 09-3X Dynamic Tamping Express machines, the state of the art integrated track maintenance machines. 09-3X- Dynamic Tamping Express is an integrated machine that carries out multiple functions viz. measures pre & post track geometry, corrects the track to required geometry, can tamp three sleepers simultaneously, stabilize and measure post tamping track parameters under load to ensure quality of work done. So far, each of these functions was being carried out by different machines. Each new 09-3X- Dynamic Tamping Express machine costs about Rs. 27 Crore. 42 more such machines will be inducted in Indian Railway maintenance fleet over next three years. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Launched in Delhi Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme in Delhi and distributed new LPG connections and cylinders to beneficiaries. During the event, about 400 LPG connections were handed over to families belonging to below poverty line category. Target under this scheme has been increased from the existing 5 crore connections to 8 crore connections by

5 State News Haryana govt announces special benefits to TB patients The Haryana state government has decided to provide special benefits, including nutritional support, to tuberculosis patients in an effort to eliminate the infectious disease by The state government would provide nutritional support of Rs 500 per month during treatment to notified TB patients with effect from April 1 this year through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system. Kerala Govt to launch community radio to update farmers In May-June 2018, Kerala State Government will start a community radio to update farmers about the latest developments in the sector. This will be the first such community radio in India, under Government initiative to get connected with the farming community. The farm radio will start broadcast from Kuttanad in Alappuzha district of Kerala and will serve farmers in a 20 square kilometer radius in the region. Kuttanand was once popularly known as the rice bowl of Kerala. Kerala issues protocol to confirm brain death cases With an aim to make organ transplants more transparent in the state, Kerala State Government has issued guidelines to be followed to confirm brain death cases. A medical board comprising four doctors, including one in government service, will be the competent authority to declare a patient brain-dead. The guidelines have been divided in to three stages viz. precautions to be taken before tests to determine brain death, analysis of reflective actions of brain and apnea test (known as sleep test). Distinction between a state of coma and brain has also been clearly outlined by precise definitions. A state of unconsciousness caused by damage to particular nerves of brain has been defined as Coma while state of permanent destruction of brain cells caused by excessive bleeding in brain has been defined as Brain Death. 5

6 Maharashtra Govt introduces free chemotherapy in 10 districts The Maharashtra state government has introduced free chemotherapy facility in 10 districts from June. The state government will include more districts once the scheme is rolled out in these districts successfully. The facility will be made available at the district hospitals of Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Pune, Amravati, Jalgaon, Nasik, Wardha, Satara, Bhandara and Akola. 6

7 Banking & Economy FPI Investment Limit in Government Securities Hiked In a move that could temporarily soften bond yields, the Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the Government, hiked the foreign portfolio investors (FPI) investment limit in Central government securities (G-Sec) from 5% of outstanding stock now to 5.5% in FY2019 and 6% in FY2020. The FPI investment in state development loans (SDLs) has been left unchanged at 2% of outstanding stock of securities. RBI switches back to GDP scale to measure economy The Reserve Bank of India switched back to the gross domestic product (GDP)-based measure to offer its growth estimates from the gross value added (GVA) methodology, citing global best practices. The government had started analysing growth estimates using GVA methodology from January 2015 and had also changed the base year to 2018 from January. SBI to invest Rs 80 bn in hydropower project of Nepal The State Bank of India (SBI) will be investing a total of Rs 80 billion in the Arun III hydropower project of Nepal, which has 900 megawatts (MW) electricity production capacities. Along with this, the Punjab National Bank will lend the loan for the construction of the 268 km long 400 KV transmission line via the Everest Bank which is the joint venture bank of the PNB. 7

8 Sports Ankita Raina becomes only third Indian woman to break top-200 barrier Ankita Raina became only the third Indian woman tennis player to breach the top-200 rankings in singles. She jumped 15 places to reach a career-best 197 in the WTA chart. The 25-year-old Ankita is the first player to achieve the feat since Sania Mirza put India on the singles map with her remarkable achievements over the years. India Win Badminton Team Gold for 1st Time in CWG History India clinched their first-ever badminton mixed team event gold in Commonwealth Games history after defeating defending champions Malaysia 3-1 in the final at Gold Coast. India's previous best performance in mixed team event at CWG was a silver-medal finish in the 2010 edition. Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth represented India in singles' matches of the fivemember team event. Jitu Rai and Mehuli Ghosh Breaks CWG Record Jitu Rai broke the games record to claim the gold medal by some distance in men's 10m air pistol, at the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games. Om Prakash Mitharval bagged bronze in the same event. Australia's Kerry Bell secured the silver medal, having managed to topple Mitharval from the second position. India's 17-year-old shooter Mehuli Ghosh set a Commonwealth Games joint record to win silver in the women's 10m Air Rifle event. Ghosh and eventual gold medallist Singapore's Martina Lindsay Veloso both ended with record score following which the winner was decided by a shoot-off. India's 25-year-old shooter Apurvi Chandela won a bronze medal in the same event. Vettel wins record 4th Bahrain Grand Prix German Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel has won the Bahrain Grand Prix, the second race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, for a record of fourth time, two weeks after clinching the Australian GP, strengthening his grip on the top spot in the driver standings. 8

9 Vettel earned his 49th win in his 200th Formula 1 race and the fourth here on Sunday to break the record set by Spaniard Fernando Alonso, reports Efe. Weightlifter Punam Yadav Wins 5th Gold for India India s weightlifter Punam Yadav won gold in the Women s 69kg weightlifting category. Yadav lifted a combined total of 222kg (100 snatch and 122 clean and jerk) and defeated England s Sarah Davies her closest competitor to take her second medal at the Commonwealth Games. This was India s fifth gold medal in the ongoing games. Venkat Rahul Ragala earned India the fourth Gold medal after lifting 338 kilograms in the Men s 85 kg category. 9

10 Appointments & Resignations Ban Ki-moon named Boao Forum chair Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was elected chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is currently underway in China s Hainan province. Ban replaced Japan s Yasuo Fukuda. Ban replaced Japan's Yasuo Fukuda at the annual conference, known as the "Asian Davos". Deutsche Bank Names Christian Sewing New CEO Deutsche Bank AG named Christian Sewing as the Chief Executive officer of the Bank. He has replaced John Cryan. Sewing will take over with immediate effect. Garth Ritchie was promoted to sole head of the securities unit and will become a deputy CEO, along with chief administrative officer Karl von Rohr. 10

11 Science & Technology Odilorhabdins: New class of antibiotics to fight drug resistance discovered A new class of antibiotics named Odilorhabdins has been discovered which can help in fighting drug-resistant or hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The antibiotic called odilorhabdins, or ODLs, are developed by symbiotic bacteria present in soil-dwelling nematode worms that colonise insects for food. The bacteria helps to kill the insect and secretes the antibiotic to keep competing bacteria away. Researchers from the University of Illinois (UIC) at Chicago and Nosopharm, a Francebased biotechnology company, were involved in this study. It has been found that ODLs act on the ribosome of bacterial cells. When ODL is bound to ribosome, it disrupts its ability to interpret and translate genetic code. 11